Readers' comments

Situation has changed dramatically as court postponed decision till the end of August. Check out Romania libera todays edition, they are publishing court decision. In fact there are two contradicting CCR decisions. One send to goverment, one to the press...

Did you use all your fingers and toes to do the calculation? Wikipedia says that the total electorate was 18,292,464. However, what Wikipedia and you have left out is the massive fraud that has landed Liviu Dragnea in court!!

Vrancea had a 250% presence at the vote, and 8 voting sectors in Dolj had in excess of 100% of voters. Add to that the bribes of beer for votes recorded on hidden microphones, and other scams, and anyone can see that the vote was fixed by the USL and Felix, the main USL backer!

I presume you are one of those who did not take their Math Baccalaureate!

More of you, less chances to stop this fight! Basescu must leave. Otherwise people will be very, very angry! The referendum was not illegal. However, Basescu threatening different people on TV for doing their job, putting pressure on CCR and claiming that others are doing that, that is not only illegal but also deeply immoral!
I don't want to live in a country rules by Basescu, a man who has been all his life a conflictual person. There is no chance with him for us. As hard as anyone would try to negotiate with him, he is incapable of doing so. He has proved so many times that he doesn't keep his promises, that what he says today he will deny tomorrow and so forth...

According to the Romanian Constitution. Article 115, Paragraph 6, the President can not be removed by an emergency ordinance. President Basescu was removed by an emergency ordinance. Totally against the Romanian Constitution, therefore illegal!!

Your arguments about unpopularity and not keeping promises is not a reason to get rid of a President. It's not illegal to be unpopular, and it's not illegal not to keep your promises. If it were, the entire PSD and PNL parties would be in jail, along with Bonbonel!

Are you going to tell me about the Romanian Constitution that the suspended president has repeatedly violated???!!!!I am not talking about being unpopular. I am talking about breaking promises and laws issued by Basescu himself.I don't think you read carefully or you didn't want to.
Where in the world the president of the Deputy Chamber counts 180 votes intead of 80 and then gets a "NUP"? Where in the world a president has the right to threaten people because they did their jobs, indeed a job conflicting with his interests? Why does Romania depend on 9 people, CCR, who are there because political parties wanted so? 5 of them (the majority) are loyal to PDL and Basescu (see recent complaints of Zagrean who wrote a letter to European officials WITHOUT ASKING THE OTHER MEMBERS OF CCR). Do you remember when the 5th person (so PDL will have the majority at CCR) was voted for in one of the sessions of the Chamber of Deputies? The president of that institution repeated the vote until the person PDL wanted was elected. Tell me that is constitutional. You will, I know you will, but you know I don't believe a think that you say, me and other 7.5 million people. If you decide not to vote that was your decision, but to have the president ask people to stay home instead of expressing their will, that is not constitutional. There is no need for you to reply to this. I am tired of people like you. I hope I will see Basescu playing chess (can he do that?) with Bombonel!

You wrote: 'Are you going to tell me about the Romanian Constitution that the suspended president has repeatedly violated???!!!!'

Two wrongs don't make a 'right'! And anyway, the CC said specifically that President Basescu had not violated the Constitution.

You added: '...but to have the president ask people to stay home instead of expressing their will, that is not constitutional.'

Nothing in the Constitution says it's wrong to ask people to abstain from an illegal referendum. (It was illegal because the USL provoked the referendum through an emergency ordinance, contrary to Article 115, Paragraph 6.)

The rest of your post is filled with unsubstantiated accusations, and it wasn't Basescu who miscounted the votes in Parliament anyway, so why are you blaming him?

The referendum was not illegal. Basescu had obviously committed acts which violated the constitution, therefore he was suspended and subjected to a referendum.

>Nothing in the Constitution says it's wrong to ask people to abstain from an illegal referendum.
As a major political member, you cannot provoke people to disregard their constitutional rights and still hope to be taken seriously.

You wrote that the Emergency Ordinance was constitutional according to Article 95 of the Romanian Constitution. OK, let's look at article 95 in English.

Suspension from office ARTICLE 95
(1) In the case of having committed grave acts infringing upon constitutional provisions, the President of Romania may be suspended from office by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, in a joint session by a majority of deputies and senators, after consultation with the Constitutional Court. The President may make an explanation to Parliament, concerning the facts of which he is accused.

(2) The proposal of suspension from office may be initiated by at least one third of the deputies and senators and, without further delay, to inform the President.

(3) If the suspension proposal is approved, a referendum must be organized within 30 days for the dismissal of the President.

The Constitution states that the President must be guilty of 'grave acts' of infringement. The Constitutional Court said that President Basescu had not committed any grave acts of infringement. Ponta's pirates ignored that. That's unconstitutional!

So, perhaps you can name one 'grave act' which infringed the Constitution, proved and substantiated by clear evidence, not just wild accusations.

Then you say that people were asked to give up their Constitutional rights by abstaining from the vote. So? But what do you say to Ponta's plan to reduce people's right to vote by excluding them from the voting list?

>The Constitution states that the President must be guilty of 'grave acts' of infringement.
No, the Constitution states that the President must be guilty of 'grave acts infringing upon constitutional provisions'. That is a very important distinction. When regarding the Constitution there are no 'grave acts' and 'minor acts' of constitutional infringement. All acts infringing it are, by nature, grave.

Furthermore, by assuming responsibilities of the Prime Minister -see the Boc governments I, II, III, IV (and so on), announcing measures in his stead- he has, in fact, infringed upon constitutional provisions.

>So?
I find this question laughably immature. They were asked by prominent political parties and even by the President himself!
If the President of a country is not one for respecting democratic voting, then what hope is there for that country?

>But what do you say to Ponta's plan to reduce people's right to vote by excluding them from the voting list?
A good question. What do you say to my dead grandfather and grandmother who abstained from voting (due to burial circumstances, lack of adequate voting booths in the afterlife, etc.) and in doing so apparently supported Mr. Basescu?

You clearly don't understand what a 'grave act' is. When Richard Nixon of the USA was threatened with impeachment, he had recorded conversations secretly in his office and had ordered the break-in at Watergate. That's serious!
But if having conversations about the government's next move with the Prime Minister of Romania is a 'grave act', then Antonescu must resign now - or be impeached.
In fact, the USL Communists have taken the impeachment route for anything they *imagine* President Basescu said or did. In your own post you imagine an infraction then speak about it as though it is fact. For example; 'Furthermore, by assuming responsibilities of the Prime Minister -see the Boc governments I, II, III, IV (and so on), announcing measures in his stead ....'
You don't have any evidence for this. None! But President Basescu's found guilty without a trial!
This is why Romania is considered a Micky Mouse country compared to others. (Although, Romania isn't far from becoming a Micky Spaga country with the USL crooks in power!)

And I've answered your next point already! An illegal referendum does not deserve respect.

And finally, the fact that your grandparents 'abstained' from the vote has nothing to do with Basescu. Like Elodia, it's to do with the incompetent baboons that run the regions. And the lists used in the referendum were the same lists used when the USL won the local elections. They didn't complain then!
And now Ponta wants to erase voters from the list who have been out of the country for 6 months! They are not dead!

Taking in account that 40% from Romanian electors are not active, the vote for Basescu resignation was 67%, as was reflected by the polls!
Today Constitutional Court offered a honorable way for his resignation!

We aren't back to square one. The Constitutional Court declared today that Basescu isn't coming back. Until 12nd September, Antonescu stays, because the voting list need to be verified, the voting populations isn't 18mil but more like 16, which means the referendum is valid!

You said you couldn't wait to see Basescu down. Talking of things going down; have you heard what happened to the Leu (the Romanian currency) when the moral invertebrates at the Constitutional Court decided to deny Basescu his clear win?

The massive loss of value of the Romanian currency will negatively affect every man, woman and child in Romania. Life will be suddenly more expensive, people with mortgages in foreign currencies won't be able to pay their installments, companies that rely on foreign imports will have to lay off workers, perhaps even close.

Sadly, Basescu will go down, but so will Romania!! Are you still pleased?

I agree and i have a mortgage and even before the whole thing, and even then i was barely able to have a decent way of living not having the financial power to actually save some money for x reason but i still want him down, even if worse times are coming!
Romania needs a change and a quick one! I don't know if USL is the one we need or they'll be able to do something, but at least it's a start!

I do agree, Larinne: "Romania needs a change and a quick one!" Only it is not changing President Basescu. On the contrary, it is the gang of the USL leaders that has to go so that Romanians might have "the chance for a new beginning," as German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle put it.

The only thing I can think about seeing that you take the (illegitimate) topping of Romanian President so personally ("i still want him down, even if worse times are coming!") is that your information sources are too biased. In favor of USL, of course.

You wrote about Basescu: '...but i still want him down, even if worse times are coming!'

I give up! What kind of logic is that?

Then you add: 'I don't know if USL is the one we need or they'll be able to do something, but at least it's a start!'

The USL is led by a proven liar, and the party ranks are filled with MPs who are awaiting trial for tax evasion and embezzlement and other fiscal crimes. Do you honestly think they will or can save us? The USL are not a 'start', they are the finish!

All I can say is watch the Leu crashing in flames over the next few weeks. Watch your mortgage installments rocket. Then ask yourself if Basescu would be better for Romania, and you!

what change you expect anyway ? It is just unbelievable, how some (actualy a lot of, probably most of the) people let's themselves to be driven by hate. But did you think just one second what's going on? Do you see what kind of people are on the "other" side? Mr. or maybe better Dr (!?) Ponta ? Do you feel the sarcasm? Do you understand their political acts? Do you really understand what's going on? It is hard to believe. In a democracy there are much more important things like hating someone. If you would try just for a moment to look forward what will happen in the coming years, than your hate would be probably changed by sadness... There will be any change? Do you see the offenses against the law? against democracy? manipulating using power and press? How many institues were compromised in just a few weeks? And how many will be? We have a prime minister, who is just an ordinary liar and a president, who assists - it is an ordinary manipulator. And the others around them? Now, could you tell me putting your hands over your heart if they are better? or maybe worse? If you ask me - I opt to clear rules. And I'm not interested at all in all of these scums.

You guys don't have any limits at all! What are you saying? What proven liar? I think you are definitely talking about Basescu? If you don't remember, let me refresh your memory! There is money to increase the teachers' salaries with 50%! He even issued a law to do that! Not only the salaries were not increased, but there was a 25% cut (in theory, because in reality it was almost 40%). We will not get a loan, we do have enough money! We did get LOANS that we need to pay back and it is on us! Fiscal crimes are ALL due to PDL and Basescu! Stop saying all this crap!!! The leu is crashing because of all the indecent and immoral reactions of Basescu and his loyal people paid with public money. My money as well!

Currently Romania faces a divided and polarized society for several reasons:

The population had grown older and most of the retirees heavily rely on state paid pensions plans. As the pensions have been diminished and the inflation takes its toll the retirees are facing grim financial perspectives. Therefore they will support and vote with whoever promises to keep the money flowing although this path might bankrupt the system. So what? If I’m already over 60 year old, as sick as a dog, with no money for decent medical treatments, scraping barely enough to pay my bills, with little left to afford a decent and healthy diet then what do I care about economic strategies for the future of my country? When you have a massive part of the electorate thinking, behaving and acting according to the aforementioned issues then the referendum discord makes perfect sense.

The education system is also an important factor in the Romanian society. The system has been deteriorating gradually for the last decade. Ill designed educational programs, poorly paid teachers, the lack of any funds and programs for professional development have made the educational system a joke. Fraudulent exams and grades were the rule rather than the exception. The introduction of strict centralized video monitoring for the capacity exams (baccalaureate) for the last two years have revealed the results: more than 50% of the students have failed to pass their exams. Poorly educated population seldom generates wise decision makers/voters.

The flaws occurring within the base of the pyramidal structure are enhances for each level up to the very top: the political spectrum is characterized by chronic corruption, nepotism, incompetence, theft and mobster behaviors. No wonder the Romanian are fed up with their political class. Unfortunately they have little alternatives. After all reforming the country will affect every level of the society. How many people are willing to take the risk and commit following the “what’s enough is enough, let’s clean up this mess”? Not that many I’m afraid. They should’ve start cleaning up the mess 22 years ago as the Poles, the Czechs, the Slovakians and Slovenians did (and those nations still have a long way to go until the job is completed). The Romanians are 22 years late. This “Johnny comes late” attitude had begun to takes its toll for the last decade and the trend will continue to deteriorate in conjunction with the current dire economic realities.

The only viable and sustainable solution for Romania is the total reform and it must begin with its leaders. Not that many to choose from if one analyzes the current political spectrum. However without political integrity and good will there will be no true mass supports. And without mass support there will be no reforms.

You say that an aging population doesn't care about policies for the future, they want money now. You add that there's chronic corruption. You say that kids brought up to cheat are unlikely to pass the baccalaureate.

All of this is true,.....but!!...

As I travel around baking hot Bucharest on my way to and from work every day, there are people selling fruit, cheap jewellery, socks, perfumes, etc. This is the tip of the underground economy iceberg that amounts to around 40% of the Romanian economy. And the unspoken deal between the crooks who have been running various governments for decades and the population is this: You turn a blind eye to our crooked deals in government, and we won't interrupt your street trade and other scams.
Both sides have accepted this tacit agreement, and the result is the gradual and inevitable collapse of the Romanian economy. Borrowing by government is the sticking plaster used to cover the growing gap between revenues and revenues diverted to MP's offshore accounts. But borrowed money must be repaid, one day!

Romania is well on its way to becoming Greece. We are run by a kleptocracy that has corruption hard-wired into its political genes.

My advice is to enjoy the Summer, enjoy the cheap fruit and vegetables (street trade in sweet, juicy melons is brisk, at the moment) and try to forget that the Leu is heading for Monopoly money status. Value, nil, in other words.

You, Sir, have hit the nail on the head with this comment and with your proposals. I fully agree with you, but when we see the need for real reform in our society, we have to take into account the fact that the educational system is doing worse.
With the intellectual quality of youth deteriorating in Romania, we are caught in a trap here: we know what must be done, but the majority of people wouldn't be in favor of real changes. People in Romania fear fundamental changes more than they fear God. We can't even use debates on certain topics, as everything has become politics in Romania.

You try (as Basescu does) to incite the young against the old, the latter presented as selfish and irresponsible. On the contrary, the old are most worried about the menacing future the young are facing, due to the pillage perpetrated by Basescu's party.
The the education system is inefficient when the young see that the connections are much more important than the competences - see for instance the case of a stripper appointed as head of an important county office (no need to sat that the lad was from Basescu's party).
You are right to say that the mess should have been cleaned 22 years ago. But with the power snatched by the communists of the FSN (The National Salvation Front of '90s), of which the PDL (Basescu's party) is the official continuation (does anyone remember PD(FSN), masked as PD and now PDL ?), how could the things be different? Now the Romanians showed clearly that they are especially fed up with a specific part of the political class: Basescu and his party !
As for the "total reform" - this is the same old colitically porect bla-bla-bla nonsense.

I do neither incite nor plant the seeds of discord among population’s age scale. I am well aware of the political spectrum divide and I do not favor any of the fractions engaged in a ruthless struggle for power regardless the consequences Romania has been facing for several weeks.

You should be careful labeling my arguments in support of Mr. Basescu and his partisans. You either haven’t read carefully my aforementioned comments, or you are simply expressing your own beliefs with little considerations to other bloggers’ opinions and arguments.

I have little sympathy for any of the Romanian political spectrum. In my personal view they are all – with very little exceptions and Mr. Basescu is no exception – more or less crooks, demagogues and they lack any decency and common sense. What makes things worse is that none of them care for the country they claim they represent.

The fact that you’re fiercely trying to reveal that one of the current political parties is deeply rooted within the post-communist era reincarnation is common knowledge although it seems to matter little for the ordinary Romanian citizen.

However I see neither acknowledgment nor criticism towards the current government, its premier and the self-propelled interim head of the state. I assume in your opinion they are okay. A proven plagiarist, a double faced “diplomat”, an individual lacking any common sense while dealing with country’s internal and external issues I assume is more than okay to keep doing his “job” isn’t he? Is this the beacon that leads and represents Romania? Is this guy “the wise choice” about 7 million media-brainwashed Romanians are perfectly comfortable with?

Have you noticed that the only media channel widely and warmly supporting Ponta’s actions is The Voice of Russia? Isn’t that odd? Or perhaps you find it absolutely normal. Indeed, tens of traditional publications across Western Europe, UK and the USA are wrong: they only one that got it right is the Voice of Russia. How convenient!

One more question if you don’t mind: why is the “total reform” a non-sense? The Poles had widely embraced 20 years ago. So did the Czechs, the Slovaks, and the Slovenians, not to mention the East-Germans. Were they wrong? Perhaps in your opinion they were as you dismiss the case as “politically correct blah-blah-blah nonsense”.

Let's not confuse regular elections and referendums. It's different.
Regular elections are held every 5 years and the turn out rate is irrelevant.
On the other hand referendums must comply to the 50% threshold. Otherwise we would have to elect a new president every now and then, whenever his popularity is low or whenever the parties feel like it.
Presidents are elected for 5 years and they are meant to stay in office till the next elections.
I don't think french presidents, elected on 7 years, had to be removed from office whenever the political landscape changed in the Parliament of France. They simply cohabited, and the presidents were not at all thrown out on shallow grounds. So I advise the Romanian Parliament to learn to live together with this president just like they do in France or elsewhere.

The problem is that using the voter threshold is too open to abuse. Here we read about ballot boxes being 'stuffed' with illegal votes, what is the exact number of eligible voters, it can be influenced by boycotting.... Whether one likes it or not, it should be about the votes counted and not whether it is valid or not or whether one side can invalidate the result by a boycott. The threshold concept is rarely used for a reason. In practice, as this referendum is proving the concept it fundementally flawed. It does not serve democracy well. Yes by all means have a higher threshold for impeaching the President but do it on the basis of, say, 65% of those who vote saying yes and ensuring that the people can vote in a fair and honest way.

The distinction you note between election and refendum is plainly wrong. If a man is put in an office following an election where he obtained two of only three votes cast, then the same is absolutely right for his removal from office. It as simply as thet. And yes, since a man is elected in an office due to its popularity, he should be removed from the office when his popularity is down down down. As for cohabitation - huge laughter - president Basescu cohabites with himself solely (and only tolerates servants - read slaves - and sycophants).

Here is some food for thought on Basescu's daughter being a MEP. Romanian people voted for HER.

If GWB's daughter ran for Congress, and the Republican party supported her, and she won the election, and she was a horrible politician only the voters are to blame.

I do not know the quality of Basescu's daughter as a politician, although it is implied as not being up to snuff. If the Romanian people are stupid enough to vote her, then they can only blame themselves.

The same people voted for Vadim Tudor, a man who is insane.

Really, the people who voted for these European Parliament MEPs are not the ones to blame, but the lazy people who sat on their but and did not bother voting.

The worst part is, as someone else stated here before, that the wifes of Ponta and Antonescu are also MEPs and they took their seats in the EU Parliament through the same dubious manoeuvrings. So, this is not an exception, it is a pattern.
Promoting family relatives into EU Parliament, and any other important leading position, be it social, economic or whatever is a beloved sport in Romanian politics. Just like the mobsters, they value Family.
And then people wonder why Romanians prefer the Eurocrats to their own politicians. That's why.

There was nothing devious about this. For EP elections, Romania is a single constituency and the main parties have a list. A number of seats are allocated on the basis of the proportion of the vote achieved by each party. The lists are put together by each party's hierarchy and the MEPs go to Brussels on the basis of the number of seats one by the party and the position that person is on the party list. It is very simple to put friends and family at the top of the party list. Basically the voters have no say whatsoever on who they send to Brussels. As an independent EBA had to be endorsed by I think 200,000 signatories before she could get on the ballot paper - it needs a party machine or something similar to do this. She then got 3-4% of the national vote so she was allocated a seat on the basis of the vote. She did of course immediately re-join PDL. She did however demonstrate that an independent candidate could get elected despite the electoral system which, of course, being Romania is dramatically different from the other 26 EU countries as regards independent candidates standing.

It is most dishonest to equate the wifes of Ponta and Antonescu on one side with EBA on the other side. The former are decent people, with long stages as party officials (by the way, Antonescu married his wife when she was already a MEP), while the semi-illiterate EBA is a shame for those who sent her there. And it is common knowledge of the way the father's party helped EBA in her election as an independent (hm!) candidate, just to be re-instated with pomp as a valuable member of the party immediately after the election.

In one interview, Ponta admitted that they faced a "tough" choice, whether to obey the Constitutional Court ruling regarding minimum participation of 50% in the referendum, or to ignore it one more time. They knew that if they had ignored it, Romania would have faced isolation and severe sanctions. Ponta indicated that Antonescu was more in favor of ignoring the ruling, and claimed the merit of having made him change his mind. In the end, they decided to obey the ruling, and thus take the risk of failing to dismiss Basescu.

The mere fact that isolating Romania and disobeying a court ruling was seriously entertained as a possible course of action is insane. These people are incapable of understanding the first thing about the civilized world, and, sadly, so are many of their supporters.

I've been travelling to Romania 3-4 times a year every year for the last twelve years. And this is a wonderful, beautiful country. Whilst we have seen the biggest political infighting for some time, this is a country caught up in economic quagmire that has prevented the very reasonable progress over the last decade moving further forward. Nobody will look back at the Basescu time in power with the greatest of memories, but neither will they want to be where they were eight years ago. I would encourage every Romanian not to give up completely on their leadership or grow too frustrated. As the article states the handful of the people that really do run this country need to sit down, sort out their differences like grown adults and stay off Romanian TV in petty childish squabbles!

Just 8.4m participated, out of which 87.4% said yes to Traian Basescu being removed from office. (The Economist)

There's nothing mentioned in the article about ballot boxes stuffed with anti-Basescu votes being distributed around the country during the day. There's nothing about the voting sectors where more than 100% of possible votes were cast -- Vrancea's sector had a 250% turnout of voters!! And there were 8 sectors in Dolj with more than 100%.
There was no mention of the fact that 22 buses carrying 'traveling voters' paid by the USL Communists were driven around the country, voting several times. There's nothing mentioned about prisoners allowed to vote, or offers of beer and other bribes for people to vote, nothing!

So, in fact, subtracting the illegal votes, the real turnout was about 36%, not 46%. That knocks 840,000 votes off the official number!

Quite simply, the Communist USL did everything they could to steal the referendum, and failed! Ponta's pirates seem to have a knack of failing. Sadly, they will make Romania fail, too.

In your way you highlight a serious problem. There needs to be some major changes made to the electoral 'procedures' used in all elections and referendum. One has heard the same stories before and the accusations have been made by all parties against each other at some time. The fact that abuses are almost certainly going on begs the question, why had the encumbant government of the last few years done something about it?

Electoral fraud has been part of the dysfunctional political system in Romania for decades! However, software to prevent fraud was bought from International Teamnet by the Permanent Electoral Authority (AEP) just three days before the local elections held earlier this year.

Why wasn't it used by the USL for the referendum? You can draw your own obvious conclusions!!

You probably answered your own question, if software was, bought just three days before the election would it have been realistic to commission it in three days? Why was it not bought three years ago? At least they have bought it. Also this is just one solution, there are a few non-technoligical solutions that could long since have been implemented like having centralised countings which can be easily monitored. Also they seem to have been able to introduce video-coverage of school exam rooms a couple of years ago but not then used the same for monitoring the same locations as election polling stations. Maybe the thruth is than none of the political parties have wanted to improve the system, they have all prefered it the way it was and still is.

No I did not misread your post. Actually your 'months ago' were seven weeks. Maybe that is time to commission the software I do not know. It still does not invalidate the question of why other options were not implemented in the last few years.

Is it not the point that these issues should not be coming up now. The procedures for how a vote is managed should not be amendable at the whim of one or other party. They need sorting out and making as transparent and democratic as possible for all elections and referendum. Given how there are/have been so many rule changes going on and so many accusations of irregularities in this and previous elections, is it not now going to take a third party review of the whole to try and get a credible set of democratic rules and regulations in place? At the moment it is all totally partisan with both parties trying to amend the rules to suit themselves, and in this I am not sure there is anything to chose between the them.

For all Romanian speakers who want to see just how big the voting fraud was, click on the URL to see a table of figures showing the surge of votes in the last three hours of the referendum day. Naturally, the PDL have made a penal complaint against Liviu Dragnea for managing this massive alleged fraud.

An interesting conclusion that is difficult to support from the data presented. Given the time of year, that it was a Sunday and it was hot it was pretty obvious that there would be more evening voting. It was also clear from following events that the turnout was going to be an issue and this may have motivated some yes voters to vote who might otherwise have not bothered. Of course encouraging people to exercise their democratic right to vote in a democracy is always going to be considered naughty. Or should that be discouraging?

Da, da, given that it was hot, given that it was Sunday, given that it was this, given that it was that ...

C'mon, the USL had voting stations in hotels, on the beaches, in the mountains, tents were erected on street corners; the opportunity to vote was everywhere in Romania! And then, with only three hours left, Dragnea allegedly ordered the 'traveling' ballot boxes to do the rounds.

There were tens of cases where the voting stations experienced a surge in votes of up to 50% in the last three hours, although the voting stations had already been open for 11 hours!!

If you look to the past presence to vote in those counties (like second tour 2009 presidential election) it is not such a big increase in presence. In order to mobilize 1% of the voting population you have to "move" 180k persons. They needed 4 more than that! Do you really believe that this can be done without being caught by many cameras on so many smartphones? Remember that we have more mobile and smart phones than population in Romania :) Prisoners (except those with civil rights restrictions) have the right to vote why complain about that? How did you arrive at 840k illegal votes? I do agree that stealing might be done, but is much more efficient and manageable for the local elections.

You wrote about the mass movement of voters: Do you really believe that this can be done without being caught by many cameras on so many smartphones?

It's nothing to do with masses of people going to vote! It's to do with boxes of votes already stamped and taken to voting stations. Do you really believe that there were 90,000 visitors suddenly appeared in Dolj on the day of the referendum? Eight voting sectors in Dolj returned more than 100% possible votes! Vrancea returned 250%!
As you are a Romanian speaker, check this table to show the massive surge in votes in the last 3 hours of the day.

The participants were the most active in the poorest regions of Romania. I think all of us remember well, where the USL (formerly PSD) bought the votes for a liter of oil or / and a kilogramm of flour... and where they can do election cheats the easiest...
Unfortunately these people constitue just a voting mass, and they will be kept as they are - well, maybe a bit poorer, if possible... so they will be even more easier manipulated and bought.

The Referendum was always more abuot the rules than the vote and that is how it remains. A massive 88% voted for impeachment. A definate 11% voted against. The turnout was 46.23% of 18.3 million. Thus it only took 3.77% of the electorate to boycott the referendum and thus invalidate it - is that democratic? Also the 18.3 million is a dated figure. What was known was that only 15.7 milion had valid identify cards and, hence, only 15.7 million could vote. If the validation was based on 50% plus 1 of those who could actually vote the turnout was well over 50%. Overall the referendum provided a very good example of why minimum thresholds are not used in democratic elections. They can too easily lead to distortions of the democratic process and this has happened in Romania.

And thus the democracy is an illusion! or a complot!
You seem to forget that the Referendum was all made-up and even if your computations prove nothing the abstention is proof of the indiference of the electorate. Of course you can impute that to the heat, the stars and another malefic influences...the truth is that romanians are fed up with their byzantines politicians.
Once again to refuse 6 billion of structural funds and to say that EU does not care is a manipulation that ordinary citizens are not aware!

It is not normal democratic practice to allocate a yes or no to those who do not vote. This is an extremely rare occassion when it has been done so. To claim an abstention as 'your' vote is to fail to understand the normal democractic voting principles. In this case it is more absurd to so when 2.6 million did not even have identity cards and could not vote. It is said that many may be deceased so it is a bit much to claim the vote of someone who has passed away. In virtually all electoral cases those who turn up to vote are counted and the principle is to ensure that as many people as possible can exercise their right to vote (as is expressed in the Constitution of Romania). This is as mch about understanding what constitutes a fair election as the referendum itself. The threshold is rarely used simply because it dows not work in terms of ensuring the fairest result.

You are right, the rules were first changed back in 2007. Why because they were using a referendum rule that stated that 50% of the entire electorate (not just those who where eligible to vote) had to vote yes. This required abnormally high turnouts and made it near impossible to get a yes vote. It has become more so with the numbers of electors leaving Romania. The system is still in place for impeaching local mayors so they are almost impossible for the voters to remove once in office regardless of their actions.

In 2007 the rules were changed to a simple majority. The 50% threshold was again reintroduced in 2009 and the 50% of the electorate requirement in April 2012. This was followed by the USL actions to return the voting system to that used in the 2007 referendum. All had been rules constitional by the CCR at some time.

This whole referendum was long since reduced to who could change the rules last. The USL tried to revert it to the 2007 rules as had happened in 2007. The Presidential group went to Brussels instead because the rule changes had previously been ruled constitutional in 2007. It appears that the Commission supported the idea of the 50% threshold as a 'fair' compromise. A question is, however, is did they fully understand the consequences and issues like the electorate number was not the eligible electorate number?

I am afraid you are missing a point; this is not an election; it is an attempt to shorten the standard term of a normal election and should be subjected to more severe conditions than the simple 50%+1.

I am totally aware that there is a distinction in Romania concerning elections and referendum. I also think you are quite right in saying that there are times were there should be a higher requirement. What has happened with this situation is that the rule chosen to raise the bar is one that has meant that there are further options beyond a simple 'yes' or 'no' vote. Due to the likely numbers, the boycott came into it. We then end up with claims that all the no-shows were actually no votes etc. There is also the debate over whether it should be 50% of the total 2002 electorate or the available data on who can actually vote...

Would you not agree that it would have been better to have said that say 60%, 65% or 70% or whatever of the voters was required. Then it is very clear that there is/was a higher requirement. It would then be about monitoring and ensuring that the voting itself is monitored and correct and the concern focused entirely on only those who were voting.

Who is talking about changing the rules during the game? That is a PDL style, a Basescu trademark. Merkel and Vivian Reding are interested in having their servant Basescu as a president. I am appalled by the fact that none of the critics of latest Romanian events were not disturbed by the frequent undemocratic decisions of Basescu and PDL prior the referendum and after as well. I am appalled by the fact that a Hungarian official can interfere in our internal political life without any reaction from Brussels.I think that these officials see only what they want to see, only what serves their purposes.

The lecture of the EU report in the article is conclusive in showing that the situation in Romania is serious, that EU knows exactly what's happening on its eastern borders and that this country is taken hostage by a brinkmanship political class. As 74 % of romanians want to improve their condition it is only bizzare that they are distracted by a referendum that no many care. The abstention is a proof of. The non utilisation of 6 billion euros of structural funds is a stupidity to say the least.

Once more after the referendum Ponta not satisfied with the result prepares for another offensive, which is once more, proof of not respecting the rules of elections (each five years) and institution building in between.

Anyone knows that in romania the actual number of inhabitants in romania is 19.000.0000 and the voting population around 16.000.000 according to the last census conducted in 2011, with the consequences on the participation outcome

The article is extremely accurate and I would like to have in romanian press such balanced oppinions. The bottom of the issue is that we can not accept a president elected with 5,2 million votes in 2009, rejected with 7,3 million votes and aproved only by one million now. To claim that who did not was present to the vote support Mr Basescu is not true since an opinion can not be presumed but should be expressed specifically. More on that I had a neighbour passed away two months ago, still present on the election lists which now, being dead counts as Basescu supporter. That is not the way as things should go. We are in the country 18 millions and the vote list is of 18,2 not mentioning the childres without the legal limit.

You're right. There are quite a few issues here however. a) people tend to forget this referendum was about impeaching a president for false reasons as the constitutional court ruled; b) USL didn't mind having your dead neighbour on the electoral list for local elections a month ago; c) if Ponta's ruling coalition were to use the ~16mil voters from 2011 census, a decrease in parliament seats would be in line as well; d) they've changed to procedures to hide the number of mobile and 'special' ballot votes. why?!..

The major rule changed before the impichment procedure starting was that was imposed a 50% presence of the total number of voters by CCR. If it would have been the law from the moment of impichment now we would have a better future waiting for presidential elections with a legitimate support. The graveyards are full with "unreplaceable" persons, Basescu can be replaced with a more legitimate one and that would have been the best option. Is not the moment to discuss the lack of legitimity from the start of the mandate, the way he changed the majorities, the way how the Constitutional Court was appointed, the way how the General Attorney are working on temporary mandates and so on... To be correct, 100% correct my neigihbour was alive at the local elections, ill but still alive so USL had no reason to worry. At that time, also the right to vote of the deceased persons was not attributed automatically to somebody. At that time the dead persons had no power to vote...Regarding the reasons of the referendum, who know how things worked in Basescu's Romania knows that there were a milion things to be invoked but if the Justice does not work against the president is hard to prove. We remain at the verdict of the constitutional court which found the impichment procedure correct. There is nothing to be forgoten or slipped away.

The trouble is that the Romanians have the option to select between a government with no legitimacy (with a majority made up through corruption and migration of MPs) led by a unashamed prime minister and a very unpopular president. The MPs were elected to represent their constituencies not the highest bidder.

Mr Basescu became very unpopular when the electoral clientele of Mr Ponta, mainly the public sector bureaucracy, saw their interests threatened.

It is a tactic to blend Mr's Ponta "electoral clientele", "the bureaucracy" "interests threatened" with the increased unpopularity of Basescu. Is some truth that Basescu becomed unpopular after cutting down 25% of anyone wages. That was especially after he was elected for the promise to raise the budgetary salaries with 50%. He camed to the press explaining that the budget can not afford and that's why the salaries should be cut and the population understood. The population become angry only after at the year's end Basescu bragged that Romania had the biggest investment budget in years and when they learned about investments in motorways costing over 56 millions euro/kilometer, public investments also with european funding of waterpools in villages without sewing systems, and a lot of other robbery of public budgets. Those 7,5 millions voting Basescu to leave correspond to 1,5 public of sector, which by the way are not supporting USL in a different proportion that the rest of the country. Regarding the lack of legitimacy, this is the attribute of a president supported by 10% of the voters against 75%. The PM is legally appointed by the president, voted by the parliament and legally invested less than 3 months ago. The President instead had,have and will have from now until the end of his mandate legitimacy problems.

As far as I can judge from a distance, Romanian politics has always been sick and always led by populistic governments. Stopped trying to understand it, very similar to Italian politics. Petty squables and insults exchanged from all sides.
I wonder if such a country belongs in the EU (no, this is not an insult against Romanian citizens) and how long will it take until it becomes the next Greece.
What does STAYING in power have to do with CHANGE? It is just so funny: "choose change, choose the same"...

Come on, sicker than in a country (Netherlands, or the Lower Countries if I may ...) where a Government is kept hostage by a madman (Wilders) ??
Italy? What has Italy to do (or Greece) with this political dynamics of Central Europe.
What is this, some sort of nonsensical Dutch joke? Better get something (decent) to read.

"...government kept hostage"...oh, didn't you hear the last news? They discovered garlic and silver crosses in the attic of the building and managed to escape!
...than Wilders was struck by a burn-out and went on holiday. So did the other ones, but to different destinations.
And they all lived happily ever after.

Not only the president's daughter is member of the European Parliament. Funny enough! The Prime Minister's wife is an MEP too and guess what! The interim president's wife is an MEP! If you started to look into the "clan" system, please do not stop at Basescu, the whole picture of this "family battle" is ways more interesting. Europe should not abandon Romanian People to this unprecedented family battle, carried out amongst mafia groups !

USL has no ideology. No principles. This entity showed strongg signs, in recent months, that they do not care one bit about national interest, or about European interest. All it matters is their own pockets and power!

The only country that backed up USL coalition was Russia. Voice of Russia had lately a couple of articles about Romania, where it suggested the USL coalition "to continue the fight in the streets through mass demonstrations" and also stated that the result of the referendum was influenced by the West and... Viktor Orban. Seems like the Voice of Russia confuses Romania with Syria and dreams about confrontation in the streets.

There was no backing up. They just made a comment. May I remind you that after the referendum even the most critical newspapers of USL and recent events changed drastically their tone, not supporting USL, but finally seeing that Romania is against Basescu. Seems like Basescu and his people confuses people of Romania with a stupid mass of citizens that doesn't see, doesn't hear and cannot make decisions of their own.

First I want to mention that I very rarely watch television (once a week perhaps), as I think that every media tries to manipulate in one way or another, according to their own preferences.
I am curious of one aspect - in the Romanian media, there are stations which seem to be clearly pro-Basescu, like B1 for example or newspaper evz, and others who clearly criticize him - antena 3. I would have seen a problem or an undemocratic state of fact if all of the stations were "pro-power" or "anti-Basescu", which is not the case- Criticism in a democracy is a valuable ressource - and going both ways.
And being "unbiased" is something to strive for but, as I convinced myself reading the press all over the world, very difficult to attain as it needs a whole lot of balance. So if I start criticizing "the voice of Russia" I might as well criticize the channels who predominantely take PDL side. Instead, when I watch, I try to watch what all sides are saying and make my own decisions, without negatively branding any of them.

USL is a coalition that I thought wouldn't have any chance. I personally was against it, but I realized that it was the only chance to fight against Basescu and PDL. If we are talking about power and pockets, let's take a look at the suspended president and PDL. Alro, Mihaileanu house, 1 million euros apartment of Basescu's oldest daughter, his youngest daughter (quite illiterate)in the EU Parliament (My God!), ICR and all the money spent to create a network favorable to Basescu and his actions outside the country, Dante villa, millions of euros spent on upgrading some protocol houses while the suspended president was talking about how important is to cut back on salaries, increasing the salaries of secret services and ICR (hmmm, what is really ICR?)...so many other things...so who is interested in their own pockets and power? Whi is Basescu so interested in keeping the power? Is he afraid that with an independent justice (hopefully we will have one that is not at Basescu's service)we will finally see the truth of our sold fleet by Basescu and other things that we don't even know about. He is desperate and he would better harm the whole nation than to be proved a liar and a thief!

I am a Romanian citizen and I congratulate the author for the accuracy in relating the internal situation, even the details about the Antena 3 commemorators which I confirm are sadly true.
To complete, Social-Liberal Union does not advise the Constitutional Court to validate the vote anyway, as many of the registered voters left Romania and have not voted in years. The problem is related to the population number of Romania. For the 2012 Referendum organized in July 29th, were used complete voters list from 2009, even if we had a national census in 2011 and first results were published by the National Statistics Institute in July, before the Referendum. The results show a 20,254,866 total population(including 0-18,young people with no voting right in Romania. Statistic evolution in Romania show that the 0-18 category represents ~17% of total population)versus a 18,288,757 persons with voting right present on the official Central Election Bureau. Being a young democracy this is a new situation we have not yet faced before and is to be judged by the Constitutional Court because the institution is there to guarantee our fundamental, constitutional rights.
In hope to have less politics and more economics in Romania I wish you all the best!

I am not confortable, I cannot accept the idea "Romania - a young democracy". Romania is not born yesterday.?Should I remind you that traditional communities (obsti) since antiquity were voting communities (men and women) and that modern Romania was even build on votes???
Please don't re-use simplistic terms from western "fast news" media. Better use "Romania, a recovering democracy" or something like that.

I'm not comfortable too with young, young is beautiful, hopeful. Nor I'm with recovering. It is a different sort, biased strongly by media which is overwhelmingly unprofessional. People - young/recovering democrats (?) - lost their individual judgement ability (common sense?) to be able to eliminate this profound malign bias. Only some disruptive internet technology may overtake the present power of the traditional media and traveling and interacting with other EU nationals might restore some of the lost basic values. Yes recovering, but from a much deeper problem. The "obsti" and history (unless a recent one) is not such a good indicator for what Romanians are now, as one archeologist responded to some traco-maniacs, you are more like your neighbors than your ancestors.